[TR] [FA] NE Towers of Dragontail - Dragon's Jaw 9/2/2024

[dangerkwok]

Dragon's Jaw FA 9/2/2024 by team: Alan Kwok, Chris Borg, Edward Toumayan

I've just led a party of 3 up a line on the NE Towers of Dragontail I've been eyeing for a few months now. It runs about 700ft and shares a top out with Dragons of Eden but is totally independent. Based on looking through every available guidebook, MP, and CascadeClimbers, it appears to be an FA. I think this could shape up to be an incredible climb with some traffic. So get on it! Here's the full story:

During a hike up to Asgard pass in 2023 I happened to take a picture of Dragontail. As this year is the year of the Dragon in Chinese Zodiacs, and it happens I was also born on a Dragon year, I looked up all routes in WA and OR containing the words "Dragon" and put it on my list for this year. That said, "Dragons of Eden" is one of the routes on my list, and as I went back to my photos to ID the route, this other line appeared (the square roof in the center drew my attention), and so I made plans to check it out on 8/12/24.

At the last minute, I couldn't line up climbing partners, so I decided to rope solo the low angle terrain until it was too sketchy or time ran out. I really wanted to see the roof up close, and the twin cracks below it, too. I ended up starting at a tree that appears to be a rappel station for DoE, then traversed my way across the big slab and eventually up the twin cracks.

It was mega. Although I wasn't too happy about all the traversing down low, the twin cracks were promising - splitter, wide, steep. And the roof appeared perfectly doable.

Between some gardening and a lot of exploratory climbing, it took 6.5 hours to get to this point. So I put in some pitons and rappelled. Then I made a questionable decision on the ground - to complete the through hike. It ended up being a 21 hour day, with a fortuitously swift hitchhike at midnight to shuttle back to the Stuart Lake TH.

I returned on 9/2/2024 with Chris Borg and Edward Toumayan on a successful ground up, onsight attempt. Chris and Edward both fell at the crux, but I ended up leading every pitch clean. We were stoked to find that the pitches linked up very naturally, the climbing was engaging and clean (but still alpine), and belays were natural and punctual. Additionally, we found an alternate start that was slightly more vertical though slightly looser. Route description below:

Inspired by the hanging teeth-like formations throughout the route, Dragon’s Jaw is located on a steep section of the northeastern-most buttress of Dragontail Peak. If you are a jack-of-all-trades climber, this is for you. The route consists of face climbing, fingers, perfect hands, perfect fists, squeeze chimneys, roofs, underclings, laybacks, and stems in sustained moderate sections guarded by brief but powerful cruxes. It shares a top out and rappel with Dragons of Eden.

To get there, hike to Colchuck Lake and ascend towards Asgard Pass. Cut right to cross the stream about 100 ft below the first set of cliffs on the trail. Aim for the scree hill to the right of the mossy stream beds. 3-4 hrs from Stuart Lake Trailhead. The route is between the starts of NE Buttress and Dragons of Eden, about 100ft to the left of the latter.

For protection, bring doubles from .3-4 with an optional addition of 1, 2, 5. Alpines at least 4x 60cm and 1x 120cm.

Pitch Breakdown

P1 - “Approach Pitch” 5.9+, 45m: Follow a broken, but generally left trending, wide crack (5.7) that sits on low angle terrain directly below a prominent overhung slab, aiming toward a ledge on its topleft. Make an airy (5.9+) move right onto the ledge, then build belay with small gear.

P2 - “Leaning Cracks” 5.10a, 35m: Head up the corner system, deviate left onto a rail feature 25ft up, and reenter the corner to meet two prominent cracks that are leaning “away” (5.10a). At the top of the hand crack, gain the ledge and immediately move left onto the face to follow a left-trending shallow crack until a fixed nut. Belay at the large ledge to the left of the fixed nut. The anchor takes .5-2.

P3 - “Belly of the Beast” 5.10b PG13, 35m: Scramble up and make an unprotectable move (5.9 PG13) to gain the ramp at the base of the twin cracks. Then unload your entire bag of wide tricks through the cracks and a chimney, which protects within. Make a heroic exit by surmounting the “dagger”, a glorious protruding chock. Take a picture to send to mom, then move up and left to belay on small gear and pitons directly below the large roof.

P4 - “Gaping Roof” 5.11a, 35m: Head straight up the right corner (5.9) with sinker fingers and good feet right where you need them. Place a piece out on the roof, shake out, and punch through this short but powerful section. Dance your way up another 20ft to a ledge and belay here.

P5 - “Hands” 5.9+, 30m: Get into the rightmost crack above by stemming and reaching. Belay on a slabby ledge below a right facing corner.

P6 - “Finale” 5.10b, 40m: Enjoy an easy corner crack to a ledge, then commit to the final crux - a well protected layback above and out right. Cracks on easing terrain lead to the rappel anchor of Dragons of Eden. Build your own belay anchor here as this route has a different direction of pull.

Descent

Rappel as for Dragons of Eden (double 60m ropes) or continue to the top of Dragontail Peak via Northeast Buttress.

Misc Photos

Start of P1 is about 10 ft to the right of where this photo was taken. (Notice the #6 - I used it on the solo run, but wanted to see if we could avoid using it on P3 - turns out, it's fine without a #5 or #6)

Looking up at P2.

In the twin cracks of P3 (having a yellow totem here saves on big gear).

Chris on the "dagger" of P3. It's really solid!

The Gaping Roof, P4, is the crux of the whole route. The right dihedral turned out to be the perfect line. The left dihedral would have led into quite a bit of meandering, and the right splitter crack (not pictured) has maybe a V6+ move to get into it - a different proj for a different time.

Belaying from the top of P5. (Yes, you can sit at all but one of the belays!)

Looking up at P6. The final route crux is right where the rope disappears.

Topping out P6. The boys are happy about the dirt shower being over.

Incredible lighting on the hike out. There were storm clouds to the west that just managed to let a slice of light squeeze by.

Edited September 6 by dangerkwok
Added some more commentary.

[wayne]

This looks great ! Can’t wait to get on it. I’m impressed with the solo style too. I’ve got some crazy projects to work on up in the area next summer!!

[dangerkwok]

That sounds good! I'm also planning on heading up next summer to perhaps bolt some proper rappel anchors, since this could add some unexpected traffic to the DoE rappels.

[dangerkwok]

This was also the first time I had seen the Dragons of Eden headwall up close. It is an incredible piece of rock with all those splitters.